Sunday, January 03, 2010

Why parents shouldn't sleep in


Kendall's "donut"
Originally uploaded by MCuthbert
Misty and I made the mistake of sleeping in this morning. It wasn't a mistake in the sense of missing our alarm, but rather a poor decision we made by deciding to stay in bed under the warm covers. When you do that, you never know what your kids are up to.

We knew they were awake -- we could hear them downstairs, but we figured they'd come get us when they needed us. Bad assumption.

When I heard them rummaging around in the kitchen, I dragged myself out of bed to investigate. When I peeked in, both of our girls were dressed in their princess costumes. The were standing on stools at the kitchen counter and had out a loaf of bread, from which they were cutting shapes with cookie cutters and eating.


Emily's fancy breakfast
Originally uploaded by MCuthbert
"It's a little messy," I thought, "but not too bad -- and at least they're eating what they get out." I decided to let them have their fun, and went back upstairs.

A little while later, when Misty and I finally resigned to leave the comfort of our blankets and quilts, we discovered that Emily and Kendall had moved on to a more advanced cooking project.

They'd gotten out some dinner rolls, sprayed them with colored cake spray, and covered them with sprinkles. Emily had also gotten out one of the "fancy" glasses and poured herself some apple juice. "Look, Mom and Dad!," Emily said proudly. "We made donuts!"

They looked like the least appetizing donuts I'd ever seen, but the girls were so pleased with themselves. I was not surprised when, after a few bites, they were "full."

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